Thinkpads Forum

Hello, I was wondering what the best WIFI card would be for a T60 with zender bios? Also, what does the 3rd antenna do on the ThinkPad, does it make a noticeable difference in performance?
Thanks

By far the best: AR9280 (2 antennas) or AR9380 (3 ant.)
No noticeable difference between using 2 or 3 antennas.

I have the Atheros AR5BXB72 Lenovo p/n 42T0825 in my T60 & T60p, both with the standard BIOS. N-capable, 2 antennas. Works fine.

RealBlackStuff wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 18, 2018 8:42 pm

By far the best: AR9280 (2 antennas) or AR9380 (3 ant.)
No noticeable difference between using 2 or 3 antennas.

+1

I have actually noted the difference with 3 antennas, but maybe this is because my router is weak

nightninja96 wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 18, 2018 8:11 pm

Hello, I was wondering what the best WIFI card would be for a T60 with zender bios? Also, what does the 3rd antenna do on the ThinkPad, does it make a noticeable difference in performance?
Thanks

Apparently, it is used for increasing the transfer speeds significantly if the router and the client wireless adapter supports MIMO (Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output). For example, an 802.11n-capable wireless adapter with 2 antennas would have a theoretical maximum transfer rate of 144MBit/s on 20MHz wide channels, or 300MBit/s on 40MHz wide channels. A similar 802.11n-capable wireless adapter with 3 antennas would have a theoretical maximum transfer rate of 288MBit/s on 20MHz wide channels, or 600MBit/s on 40MHz wide channels.

The best wireless adapter? The Qualcomm Atheros QCA9984 (4 antennas), or the Atheros AR9590 (3 antennas). Or if you are willing to make some space for this monster, a customized Qualcomm Atheros QCA9980 with 8 antennas! Truly, one can dream of sticking that into a laptop.

I tried two AR5BXB72 Atheros ABGN wifi cards in my T60p with Windows 7. Before I let Windows Update install the Atheros driver it found, the wifi worked and it was 3 times as fast! As soon as Windows Update updated and after reboot Windows went into graphics mode, the system blue screened with each card. Any ideas how to fix this? I tried getting the Atheros drivers out of there and reinstalling every other driver and its brother, to no avail. Anybody know what the best driver is and where to get it...besides Atheros itself? - Thx!